The nearest artists to Com Truise in the Frekvenci archive are Futurecop!, Dream Shore and Makeup and Vanity Set. They share his unusual tag combination of chillwave, synth-pop, downtempo and ambient, and none of them is on a label he has used, so everything here is matched by what the records are tagged, not by who released them.
Slow-motion funk
Com Truise is Seth Haley, originally from upstate New York. He made much of his first album while working in advertising in New Jersey, and the Skinny's 2012 interview has him describing his music as "mid-fi synth-wave, slow-motion funk".[1] The same piece says he avoids the lo-fi texture of many chillwave artists, and lists Blade Runner, RoboCop and Neuromancer among his touchstones, with Giorgio Moroder and Vangelis as the musical links.[1] A 2011 review of his debut, Galactic Melt, notes his drum-and-bass background and a pounding rhythm under floating keyboards.[2]
That gives you three things to listen for in a neighbour: a tempo below the usual night-drive pace, a groove that bends rather than marches, and melodies that hover above the drums. Chillwave, the 2009–2011 tag he partly belongs to, was a name many of its own artists disliked.[3] If you want the genre in context, the Chillwave explained: the hazy 2009 sound and what followed covers it, and the synthwave tag covers the arpeggio-driven records he is unlike.
The archive lists 11 Com Truise releases from 2011 to 2023, six of them on Ghostly International and three self-released. Not all are albums: there is a live session, two mixes, and two compilations of early material.
SHOW THE NUMBERS
| Year | Releases |
|---|---|
| 2011 | 2 |
| 2012 | 1 |
| 2013 | 1 |
| 2014 | 1 |
| 2015 | 0 |
| 2016 | 1 |
| 2017 | 1 |
| 2018 | 0 |
| 2019 | 1 |
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2022 | 0 |
| 2023 | 1 |
The chart is sparse, one or two a year with gaps, which suits a slow, album-by-album artist. If you have not heard him, try Iteration, Persuasion System or Silicon Tare.
Same tags, different weight
- Futurecop! (UK, 18 releases, 2008–2025) carries chillwave, synth-pop and ambient together, the closest tag match among the larger catalogues. His 2025 album Wind, Town & Flowers is on NewRetroWave.
- Dream Shore (US, 5 releases, 2015–2020) adds downtempo to that set and has the highest similarity rating of the group. Start with Miami.
- Makeup and Vanity Set (US, 133 releases, 2003–2026) is tagged chillwave and ambient, and it is a big catalogue to get lost in; the newest entry is Ravefinder.
- Bart Graft (Ireland, 18 releases, 2015–2025) combines chillwave, synth-pop and ambient; try Unending Desire, a 2025 album.
Lighter on their feet
These drop the bent tempo but keep the soft synth palette. Sunglasses Kid (UK, 21 releases) is tagged chillwave and synth-pop, and Graduation (Instrumentals), on Aztec Records, is a pop record with the vocal removed. Espen Kraft (Norway, 43 releases) adds a lo-fi tag; DREAMS is from 2022. Le Matos (Canada, 16 releases, 2011–2025) leans on film and game work, such as Turbo Kid Original Game Soundtrack.
A long way from Ghostly
AWITW (France, 35 releases, 2015–2025) is tagged downtempo, lo-fi, chillwave and ambient, but the archive files Cursed Mall (The Soundtrack) under mallsoft on B O G U S // COLLECTIVE, a vaporwave label. If that corner appeals, What is mallsoft? The sound of an empty shopping mall explains it. It is a stretch from Ghostly's catalogue, though the tag overlap is real.
Two sister pages go in opposite directions. If you like Com Truise for his gentler side, the sung, soft-edged If you like Timecop1983: artists to try next is one step over; if you like him for texture and darkness, If you like Survive: artists to try next goes the other way. For the wider map, 25 essential synthwave artists, and where to start with each places him among his peers.
On the radio, the Future station (95.9 FM) fits his bent pop structures, and the Space station (93.3 FM) suits the drifting end. Browse all chillwave releases for the tag at large. Matches here come from how the archive tags catalogues, so check one track before committing to a full album.
Records to start with
- Com Truise · 2017 · Ghostly International · LPThe 2017 Ghostly album, a clear picture of his bent mid-tempo sound.
- Com Truise · 2011 · Ghostly International · EPThe early EP that, according to The Skinny, got him noticed by his label.[1]
- Futurecop! · 2025 · NewRetroWave · LPThe nearest tag match among big catalogues, on a synthwave label.
- Makeup and Vanity Set · 2026 · Twelve Trees Soundworks · LPA large catalogue tagged chillwave and ambient.
- Sunglasses Kid · 2024 · Aztec Records · LPPop structure with the vocals taken out.
- A synth soundtrack for a film-inspired game.
Sources
- Com Truise: 'I do like to pretend I'm at NASA Control, launching space shuttles' · The Skinny, 3 Aug 2012
- Album Review: Com Truise – Galactic Melt · Beats Per Minute, 8 Jul 2011
- That Was a Thing: The Brief History of the Totally Made-Up Chillwave Music Genre · Grantland, 8 Apr 2015